Puzzle 618: Proof of Quilt 12

I wrote this puzzle last year for Grandmaster Puzzles, but Thomas Snyder doesn't really care for Shakashaka puzzles, so I've decided to finally post it here (just to prove my blog's title hasn't completely decayed). The last time I posted a large puzzle of this type, a reader helpfully provided a URL to play it online, and since I helpfully already had a plaintext version of the puzzle saved, I was able to generate such a URL myself. Play this puzzle on PUZ-PRE here!

A while back, I alluded to some changes in my life. I'm not quite sure what's going to happen; my computer hasn't been moved out yet, and it might end up staying here after all. This might mean more Wordy Wednesdays; I have a puzzle written that I don't think will be suitable for any other outlet (and will probably be Wordy Wednesday 51), and I really don't want to stop on a number like 51 if I can help it!

5 comments

37:03. I probably would have solved it sub-30 minutes had I used MS Paint, though, since I find the PUZ-PRE Shakashaka interface rather less functional than your helpful division of each square into four triangles. For one thing, I can mark cells bordering a black cell that definitely have a triangle in them. For another, I can mark some invalid orientations for black triangles.

Furthermore, PUZ-PRE auto-resizes the puzzle by default, which makes it very difficult to play this on a 15-inch screen without first changing the settings.

PUZ-PRE is pretty good for almost all other genres I've seen, though, so it's a shame the Shakashaka interface is so cumbersome.

Edderiofer: You might have been slightly faster in Paint.NET, since you can set the flood fill tolerance to a higher number than 0% (high enough to hit the grey lines) to mark an entire white cell (or the white half of a cell with a triangle) in one click instead of four or two.

I agree that the interface somehow felt off to me, especially with the smaller cells, but with such a huge puzzle, I knew someone would painstakingly transcribe the numbers and generate a URL eventually, and I decided to save them the trouble, since I already had a plaintext version for Thomas Snyder to more easily generate his art. :)

I tried the PUZ-PRE solver first but it seemed to have trouble tracking the mouse. I'd click in one cell and it would put a marker in another cell altogether, so I gave that up and solved it in GIMP instead. :-) Took me a good long while though.

While I do miss the confirmation of a correct solution that the GM Puzzles widget provides, I reckon it'd be a nightmare having to enter an answer string for this puzzle, so perhaps its just as well you published it here. ;-)

Rotated, with 64% bigger cells. There are three input methods [Input Triangle Type], and Corner-side is excellent for systems with a mouse. You are meant to use it to draw rectangle outlines by clicking and dragging diagonally, rather than setting each cell separately. And it even handles the corners without needing to click again.

As Neelix noticed, current versions have introduced a bug occasionally triggered by dragging, where your cursor and the cell you are working at are offset. I found that clearing cache and clean reloading of page fixes it. [File] -> Save file as ... will preserve your progress.

Support me on Patreon!

If you enjoy my weekly word puzzles, please consider supporting me monthly on Patreon. You'll get sneak peeks at this blog's puzzles, and exclusive puzzles just for patrons. You can support for whatever amount per month fits your budget. Thank you!

Who's the author?

Grant Fikes has been writing logic puzzles in an amateur capacity since 2005, and in a professional capacity since 2013. He serves as the second-most prolific contributor to the blog on Grandmaster Puzzles, behind only Thomas Snyder; his works have also appeared in Akil Oyunlari, in Sudoku Xtra, the United States Puzzle Competition (2012-2014), and in a smartphone app. Grant has also created Kakuro puzzles for Kakuro Conquest (the puzzles haven't appeared yet, for whatever reason). As a budding word puzzle constructor, Grant's puzzles have appeared in the short-lived Will Shortz's Wordplay, in GAMES World of Puzzles, and in the smartphone app Bonza, and his creation Pent Words has won an award from Kadon Enterprises; as an occasional board gamer, his game Battle of LITS has been published by nestorgames and Lyris Laser Studios and is playable on BoardGameArena. On the Internet, Grant has adopted the persona of a purple and cyan fox/badger hybrid.

PLEASE DO:* commission me! I make good puzzles!* become my patron on Patreon! You'll get early access to my word puzzles!* print these puzzles out to solve them on paper* copy and paste these puzzles into your preferred image editor, and solve them there* e-mail me (glmathgrant@gmail.com; I can nudge you towards a solution if you're stuck, or interact with you in other ways)* post non-spoiler comments directly on the blog (i.e., "I like what you did with the 3's", "The logic in the upper left corner was astounding")* share these puzzles with friends and link to this blog

PLEASE DON'T:* spoil the solution in the comments section for all others to see* post completely irrelevant comments (including comments consisting completely of punctuation)* claim these puzzles as your own* make money off of these puzzles without my permission

What's that font?

Since Wordy Wednesday 72, all puzzles on this blog use the royalty-free Tinos font. Hooray for free stuff!

Who made those images?

The purple and cyan mascot on this page is my fox/badger fursona Grant Badger Fox. The blog's banner was made by PunkJax, the image of Grant holding a tip jar was made by Marquis2007, and the "Certified Puzzlemaster" badge was made by Mary Mouse.